Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Tuesday's Tip

UGH! These shelves can be such a pain, especially when they are in your pantry. Cereal boxes tip over, cans sit uneven, things don't slide easily....etc.

I would love nothing more than to have my closets and pantry with the wooden shelves, but unfortunately, our house didn't come with those! :( Neither did our first house, but we found a solution.

Self-adhesive vinyl floor tiles. No particular brand, just whatever is the cheapest. I, personally, like the self-adhesive, but they don't have to stick. This box was only $12 at Family Dollar and we were able to do our entire pantry, and 2 shelves in our laundry room. So easy. Just peel and stick. You may have to do a little measuring or cutting, but it's worth it.

The end result. Everything sits evenly on the shelf. No tipping over and so much more easy to organize.

Thanks so much for stopping by our blog. I'm glad you found this tip helpful. I, too, would love to have the wooden shelves, but didn't want to pay the price.

As far as the sticky bottom creating dust, I haven't noticed this at all. We did the same thing in our pantry over 10 years ago in another home and I never noticed dust then either. Since it's on the bottom, I don't know how you would ever see it anyway.

I am in shock at how many folks have actually pinned this tip to their pinterest board! You all will enjoy your end result once your project is complete, I promise! And yes, the vinyl tiles that we used stick very well. Good Luck! I guess I need to get busy posting my next tip! HA!

I've used these types of tiles for years in my cabinets and pantry, regardless of whether they were wire or wood. I always hated cleaning the cabinet shelves where the oils went. Cleaning the vinyl is so much easier to clean! Fitting them is no problem either, just measure and cut with a box cutter!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. We couldn't afford to put in wooden shelves when we built our closets. This is a great fix for those horrible wire shelves. To me wire shelves never look neat, know what I mean. I can't wait to do this project.

Hey ya'll! Thanks again for the comments. I'm glad you found this tip helpful. Couple of replys....

@lorikinderteacher: You know, I'm not sure about putting the tiles on wood shelves. If you wanted, you could always place them on your shelf, but not remove the sticky back. Honestly, if it were me, I would remove the shelves, if possible, and refinished them to give them a fresh clean look. If that is to much trouble, maybe you could use some cute contact paper. When the contact paper is dirty or you want a different look, just replace it with another cute design! :)

@Kara: Thanks for the blog feature. I need to check out your blog as well.

@Jessica: I don't think it would tear the vinyl. Since the wire shelves are a vinyl coating and not painted it should be fine. You could always try a spot in the back to see. If all else fails, leave the tiles there when you move. The next person would enjoy having them too. Of course, check with your landlord first to make sure they approve.

@Rachel: Closetmaid sells hooks that clip right onto those shelves, into which you can then snap a (metal) rod, enabling your hangers to slide (mostly) unencumbered.http://www.lowes.com/pd_36853-362-55629_0__?productId=3032914&Ntt=closetmaid+rod&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dclosetmaid%2Brod&facetInfo=

This has got to be the best freakin' tip I've found on Pintrest yet. I bought tiles today and now my pantry's wire shelves are no longer sagging in the middle and everything is sitting up nice and straight. Pure genius!! Thanks!!

This is JUST fabulous! I hope you are still reading comments on this post! I have already called the local family dollar to see if they have the tiles in stock--they do. We are in a new home, and the wire shelves in the pantry are driving me nuts. I have a question...how large is your pantry? Ours is probably about 4-5 feet (if I had to guess) across with 5 shelves. Do you think that one package of tiles will be enough, or would you go for two?

Hey! Yes! I still read the comments and glad to have them. I hope I'm not too late responding to you. Yes. One package should be plenty and actually, you should have some leftover. Sounds like we have the same pantry. We also have 5 shelves. Have fun! You won't regret it! :)

Found this on Pinterest & had to give you a huge thanks for your blog. All my closets have those annoying wire shelves & what I was using was not quite working. Have only done 3 shelves so far in 1 closet, but I love it! No more items falling over, so thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I just moved into a new home. (Well new to us.) I went from a fabulous walk in pantry with wood shelves to a smaller wire rack pantry. I will be doing this as soon as I'm ready to organize the pantry. Right now everything just got unpacked and thrown in. Thanks so much.